BenQ E2200HD 22in LCD Monitor review

Summary

Our Score

8/10

Review Price free/subscription

Affordable Full HD 16:9 displays are all the rage these days. Today we're looking at yet another 22in (or 21.5in to be exact) model following after the award-winning Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS, ViewSonic VX2260wm and BenQ's own M2200HD. The latter of these is the most significant, since the E2200HD is essentially just the M2200HD with a black instead of white finish and minus the webcam and USB hub.

Of course this means the E2200HD is just as easy to assemble as its paler cousin: simply click in the base and you're done. It's just as easy to take apart too. Unfortunately build quality also remains unchanged, meaning the plastic creaks when making adjustments. And speaking of adjustments, as usual with a TN monitor in this class you're limited to basic tilt. I can understand wanting to keep costs down, but most monitors of this ilk we've had through the labs are too low on one's desk for ideal comfort.

This aside, the piano black finish does make for a far more striking contrast with its silver screen surround than the white of the M2200HD did. It also makes the E2200HD look a tad slimmer, which in turn makes the entire display look more attractive.

The large power button still has an unobtrusive green LED, and the menu buttons are still clearly marked on the left side of the bezel. This, combined with the logical, colourful OSD makes adjusting the E2200HD's settings very easy, with the only niggle being that the up/down navigation buttons actually work right/left, which is a bit counter-intuitive.

As far as connectivity goes, the E2200HD looses its cousin's USB hub, but retains the triple-whammy video inputs of VGA, DVI and HDMI. And though there is no 3.5mm audio input to go with the VGA or DVI connections, at least there's a headphone socket on the display's side to give a signal from the HDMI port, rather than forcing you to use the poor integrated speakers.

The same cable-tidying clip does as good a job of managing cables as on the other BenQs using this chassis, but regrettably the company still doesn't include any digital cables with its monitors, only VGA. Another small negative is that because the E2200HD's chassis was designed to house USB ports and a webcam, the bulges for these at the left and top are still present, with blanking plates to cover them.

Naturally, using the same chassis for an entire series does allow BenQ to keep the price down, but we'll get onto value for money in a bit. First let's take a look at the monitor's most important aspect: its image performance.